Mobile communication subscribers who roam in different time zones may occasionally receive short message service (SMS) text messages on their mobile devices that have incorrect time stamps. For example, a subscriber who normally resides Seattle but who has traveled to New York for business may receive a text message from a sender. However, the time stamp for the text message may report a time that corresponds with the time zone for Seattle rather than the time zone for New York. Such time discrepancies may be caused by a failure of the mobile telecommunication network to properly update the time stamp for the time zone at which the subscriber is currently located.
In some instances, the failure the mobile telecommunication network to properly update the time stamp may be caused by the use of mobile service center (MSC) pooling, in which the MSC that is suppose to update the time stamp of the text message for the recipient subscriber is unaware of the time zone that the recipient subscriber is currently located in due to roaming activities of the recipient subscriber. An incoming text message with a time stamp that does not correspond with the time zone that the recipient subscriber is currently occupying may cause the recipient subscriber to believe such a text message was sent at an earlier time or at a later time than the actual text message transmission time. Such time stamp discrepancy may cause the recipient subscriber to question the service reliability of the mobile communication service provider that delivered the text message.